


Beyond Belief

by Misty_Reeyus



Series: True Colors [5]
Category: Magic Kaito
Genre: Developing Relationship, Emotional Baggage, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Magic Revealed, plus lots of aoko pining over kaito in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26405290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misty_Reeyus/pseuds/Misty_Reeyus
Summary: In the aftermath of discovering Kid’s identity, Aoko spends a week living with Akako.The stay isveryinformative.
Relationships: Koizumi Akako/Nakamori Aoko
Series: True Colors [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/527734
Comments: 11
Kudos: 31





	Beyond Belief

**Author's Note:**

> this one leans _real hard_ into the whole ~magic~ stuff because damn do i crave that akako backstory and lore!!!

Akako-chan, as it turns out, lives in a huge old Western-style mansion in the depths of a forest, which takes them almost an hour to walk to from the nearest metro station. Quite frankly, it’s as in the middle of nowhere as you could possibly get in Ekoda, and Aoko thinks the location must be incredibly inconvenient, but she doesn’t say as much aloud. Aoko hasn’t said much of anything the entire way here, really—she’s still not exactly happy with Akako-chan right now.

The front doors swing open right as the girls approach, and Aoko startles upon seeing the figure standing in the entry: a dark-suited, hunchbacked man with a rather scary, almost _demon-like_ face. He greets them with a low bow and a humble “Welcome home, Akako-sama”, so Aoko figures he must be the butler, and after Akako-chan orders him to show Aoko to the guest room, the young mistress struts off into the house by herself.

Aoko, meanwhile, is led up the stairs and into a room that initially makes her feel like she’s stepped into the Victorian era. There’s a gothic-style canopy bed surrounded by scarlet curtains, and an unnecessarily ornate pair of windows lead out to a balcony—but the attached bathroom is so surprisingly clean and fancy and _modern_ that it feels like it should belong to a hotel suite.

Once Aoko has been shown everything, the butler graciously excuses himself, leaving her standing all alone in a bedroom that quite honestly makes her feel _small_. Her stomach churns as her arms clutch tighter around her meager purse—the only thing she had when she chose to run away, the only thing in this entire place that’s hers. So, this is where she is now: in an isolated house in the woods, beneath the same roof as Akako-chan and her creepy butler, surrounded by opulence and finery that just don’t suit Aoko at all.

It’s uncomfortable, all of it. But a bed is a bed and when Aoko sits on it, she finds it’s the softest, fluffiest, most dreamlike mattress she’s ever felt in her life. All at once, everything seems to hit her: the pain of discovering Kid’s true identity, the hassle of being on the run these past few days, the sheer lack of opportunity she’s had since that heist to truly and properly _rest_. Unbidden, Aoko slumps over, physically and emotionally exhausted.

The feeling of her head hitting a silky-smooth pillow is the last thing she registers before she knows nothing more.

* * *

Aoko wakes up to find a phone on her bedside table.

It looks _exactly_ like her phone—the one she impulsively smashed into the street some days ago—right down to the make and model and color. When she turns it on, it even accepts the same login password, and it has all the same settings and apps that she’d had before. But there’s not a scratch on it, and if it _was_ her old phone, the screen would at least be cracked, right?

 _Magic_ , a voice whispers in the back of her mind. _Akako-chan said she was magic._

...No. No, no, Aoko is _not_ going to think about that right now.

Instead, she focuses on the time displayed onscreen and gapes. When she arrived here with Akako-chan last night, it was almost ten; now, according to this, it’s just past six pm. She slept for over twenty hours straight.

Oh, and school’s over for today. Most of her classmates should be home right now.

Fully aware of what she has to do, Aoko digs into her purse, retrieves her SIM card, and plugs it right into the phone. She isn’t exactly looking forward to this, but she just majorly ghosted a lot of people, and at least a couple of them deserve to hear that Aoko is okay straight from the horse’s mouth. She already knows who she has to dial first: the one person who is both a close friend and completely uninvolved with all the Kid messiness.

Aoko calls, and the line picks up within three seconds.

“Aoko, what the hell did they do to you?” Keiko hisses into the line before Aoko has a chance to say anything. “I _know_ it was them, it can’t be what everyone at school thinks.”

“Wait, what? What does everyone at school think?”

Keiko scoffs. “Kaito-kun told everyone that you were absent because of a ‘family emergency’, and they bought it. But when I asked him for details, he evaded me, and Hakuba-kun and Koizumi-san kept exchanging _glances_ with each other. They both just looked so _guilty_ , so I figured it must have had something to do with your brigade.”

Keiko’s not wrong, but Aoko supposes the ‘family emergency’ thing isn’t exactly wrong either. Kaito _is_ family, even if some of Aoko’s feelings towards him are very distinctly _not familial_ , and the main reason she ran off in the first place was because she simply couldn’t face her own father while knowing that the boy he’s treated like a son this past decade is also the thief who publicly humiliates him on a regular basis. But Aoko really can’t explain all that, so she just gives an affirmative hum to acknowledge that Keiko was right.

“So what exactly did they do?” Keiko presses again, a heated edge to her voice. “Did Koizumi-san seduce Kaito-kun and Hakuba-kun and then manipulate them into acting against you?!”

Aoko winces. Keiko has never liked Akako-chan, has always looked upon her with suspicion and distaste, and although Aoko’s own feelings aren’t the most positive right now, she still feels the need to defend her.

“No! No, it wasn’t about Akako-chan.” Aoko chooses not to mention that she’s actually staying over at said girl’s house. “I just...it’s just...Kaito and I just had a fight.”

“You two _always_ fight,” Keiko says, clearly skeptical. “You wouldn’t go off the grid just over any old argument with him.”

“It was different this time!” Aoko insists, but she can’t go into the true details, and that leaves her scrambling to come up with a believable lie. “Y-you know how Kaito still idolizes Kid and all? Well, sometimes I feel like that means he’s not taking the Capture Brigade seriously, and I guess I’d been bottling it up or something because...because I just _exploded_ at him and then he exploded back at me and then it got horrible and nasty and just...” Aoko pauses to catch her breath, internally cursing herself for how _vague_ and _bad_ of an excuse this all is. “It was just stupid, okay? The whole thing was stupid.”

For a long while, Keiko is silent, leaving Aoko to squirm uncomfortably in her seat. Then:

“Do you want me to punch Kaito-kun in the face? Because I can totally punch Kaito-kun in the face.”

Her tone is so entirely deadpan and serious that Aoko is actually startled into laughter, as well as relief that Keiko apparently bought it. “Maybe wait until I’m there to watch it,” Aoko answers, only half-joking. “Okay no, but really, it’s something the two of us will have to sort out between ourselves. Thanks for the offer, though. And I’m sorry I made you worry.”

“I’m just glad you got in touch,” Keiko assures. “Take care of yourself. And return to school soon, you hear?”

“I hear,” Aoko promises, and after exchanging farewells, she hangs up.

Alright, good. That’s one phone call down.

(Unfortunately, that was the _easy_ one.)

* * *

It’s only after Aoko spends a good half-hour rehearsing her talking points to herself that she finally makes her next call.

“...Aoko?!” The voice on the other line answers almost immediately, and Aoko’s chest pangs as she realizes just how desperate and exhausted he sounds. “Aoko, is that really you?!”

Aoko swallows hard. “Yes, it’s me, Dad. I’m here. I’m okay.”

“Oh thank _god_ ,” Dad gasps, and she swears she can _hear_ his body go slump in his office chair. “That girl, she called and she said you were fine but she wouldn’t put you on the phone no matter how much I asked and I just...” He trails off, going silent for a minute before apparently deciding not to finish that line of thought. “Well, whatever. Your friend, the redhead, she said you’re staying with her?”

“I am.”

“Why? Why not come back home?”

Oh, acting chops, don’t fail her now.

“I just need to be away for a while. From Kaito.” _A_ _nd f_ _rom you,_ but she can’t say that, she absolutely _cannot_ say that.

“What happened?” Dad growls. “What did he do?”

Aoko gives him the same explanation she gave Keiko: that she and Kaito got in a fight about Kid and, for no particular reason at all, it got a lot more heated and personal and hurtful than their usual fights. It’s all lies and she knows her story is vague, but she tells it with such real pain and regret in her voice that she thinks it sounds at least plausible.

“...That’s really it?” Dad asks when she’s done. “ _That’s_ what made you run away?”

“You know us, Dad,” Aoko responds, keeping her tone as light as possible. “We’ve always been too good at getting under each other’s skin. Plus, we’re teens now. Teens get too emotional and say stupid shit. It happens.”

Her father goes quiet, and Aoko can tell that he knows she’s still hiding something.

“ _Please_ , Dad,” Aoko begs him, her voice now no more than a quiet whimper. “Just don’t push. It’s between me and Kaito and it’s _personal_. Okay?”

He still doesn’t answer.

“Dad?”

“...You two need to talk. _Soon_.”

“I know.”

“And you can never do that to me again, Aoko. _Ever_.”

“I won’t. I’m sorry.”

Dad sighs, clearly just too _tired_ to get angry or argue. “Just make sure you come back to me.”

“I will, Dad. I promise.” Oh, shit shit _shit_ , now she’s getting teary. “I-I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart,” he says, and Aoko hangs up.

Only then does she allow herself to full-on burst into sobs.

* * *

Aoko lies there, bawling on the bed, for about twenty minutes before she eventually manages to pull herself together. Even then, she still feels horrible; lying to her father about that was one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do, and that was just over the phone, she can’t _imagine_ doing it right to his face. She could swear that she’s gone sick to her stomach from the sheer guilt—but then an audible _growl_ comes from her middle, causing Aoko to abruptly realize that okay, maybe part of why her gut feels so empty can be explained by just plain old hunger.

There were some chocolate bars in her purse during her first day on the run, but she finished those quickly, and she’s had nothing but cheap convenience store meals since. So Aoko has absolutely no food on her right now, and that’s what spurs her to venture outside of her assigned guest room in search of the kitchen.

The butler isn’t anywhere in sight, so Aoko heads down the stairs by herself, then stills once she reaches the foyer. The kitchen is probably on the first floor, but there’s four different ways Aoko can go from here, and she wasn’t given much of a tour of the house before being escorted straight to her room and passing out. She does remember which hallway Akako-chan went down when they first arrived, though, and with no other clues to go on, Aoko figures she might as well start there.

At the end of that hallway is a looming door around which the wood of the archway is carved into twisted, viny, somehow sinister-looking patterns. It certainly doesn’t scream ‘kitchen’ but it does scream _something_ , and Aoko, overcome by curiosity, simply can’t help herself.

The door opens to a staircase leading down, and Aoko descends slowly into what’s presumably a basement, but no amount of caution could have prepared her for the sight that ultimately greets her. At the bottom of the stairs is an enormous circular chamber, composed entirely of large stone bricks, and lit up solely by the flames of several ceremonial torches. The shelves lining the walls are haphazardly filled with worn books and animal skulls and jars of what look to be preserved organs, and in the center of the room, right atop a chalk pentagram, a huge cauldron steams and boils.

Standing before the cauldron is someone wearing a hooded robe and holding a wooden staff; when Aoko’s footsteps thud closer and the figure turns to glance back, it’s revealed to be Akako-chan.

“Ah, Aoko-san.” Akako-chan is perfectly calm, as if this entire crazy voodoo display that’s currently causing Aoko’s brain to seize is just no big deal. “Did you need something?”

“Uhhh, I...” Aoko stammers, her mind going blank. “I was hungry?”

“Yes, my butler is cooking as we speak. Braised pork ribs.”

“Oh. Sounds good.”

But when faced with the utter absurdity of this entire occult dungeon, Aoko’s hunger has suddenly become the very last thing on her mind.

“...So,” Aoko pipes up again, after an awkward period of time spent just silently taking it all in. Holding up her index finger, she slowly gestures towards everything around them. “Magic?”

Honestly, Aoko still doesn’t necessarily _believe_ that Akako-chan is a witch, but after seeing all of this, she does believe that Akako-chan believes it.

“Red magic, to be precise,” Akako-chan says, and Aoko cocks her head questioningly to the side because that means _nothing_ to her. “Well, practitioners of this branch of magic form contracts with Lucifer. In return, he grants us witches incredible powers—in particular, the ability to capture the hearts of any men we choose. It’s an art that has been passed down through my family for generations.”

Akako-chan gestures behind Aoko, and when Aoko obligingly turns around, she sees a series of picture frames hanging on the wall just above the chamber entrance. They’re portraits, seemingly lined up from oldest to newest, each one featuring a different, incredibly beautiful woman. In particular, the one at the very end looks so much like Akako-chan—but older, and with much stonier eyes.

“That’s my mother,” Akako-chan says, upon seeing where Aoko’s attention is focused. “She was brilliant. She made sure to teach me everything about red magic before she...”

She trails off there, and Aoko blinks back at her in confusion.

“...There’s a catch to being a red witch,” Akako-chan eventually continues. “Our abilities are lost forever if we shed so much as a single tear. Now, my mother was _strong_. I never saw her get sad or upset at anything, and of course, I never saw her cry. But about a year ago...I still don’t know exactly what happened, exactly _why_ she broke down, but she did. She lost her powers, and once she became a mere normal human, she decided she simply couldn’t bear to live in this world anymore.”

Aoko gasps in horror, her hand flying up to her mouth as she realizes just what that means. She can’t imagine how _awful_ that must have been—sure, Aoko lost her mother too, but it was an accident that happened when Aoko was too young to remember her, and she could never truly mourn someone whom she never knew. Not like how Kaito mourned his father when he was eight, not like how Akako-chan must mourn her mother now.

Akako-chan isn’t crying—apparently she can’t even _afford_ to cry—but she still looks absolutely _gutted_ at the memory, and somehow, Aoko finds herself tearing up on her behalf.

“I’m sorry,” Aoko whispers.

Akako-chan abruptly shakes her head, then waves her hand as if to brush it off. “It is what it is. Anyway, after she passed, I moved the house here to Ekoda. So that’s that.”

Those words don’t quite register for a good few seconds, but when they do...

“Wait. You ‘moved the house’?” Aoko repeats. “Like, the actual _physical_ house?”

Her sheer disbelief is apparently amusing enough to get Akako-chan to crack a small smile. “This house has been in my family for centuries. Wherever my ancestors wanted to be, the house would come with them. It’s why we live here in the woods; I couldn't exactly set the place down in the middle of an already populated neighborhood.”

Weirdly, as ridiculous as that all _should_ seem, Aoko’s actually starting to think it makes _sense_.

“Isn’t that inconvenient, though?” Aoko asks, finally voicing those initial concerns she’d had about the house’s location. “I mean, you’re so far away from any shops, from our school. Doesn’t it take forever to get anywhere?”

“Well, we do have a car. When necessary, I have my butler drive me.” Akako-chan shrugs. “But honestly, I mostly just fly everywhere.”

Aoko blinks. Blinks again. Blinks a third time for good measure. “You... _fly_?”

Akako-chan smirks. “Well, you know that whole thing about witches and flying broomsticks? Cliche, sure, but it’s true.”

Aoko’s head swirls with thoughts, and a single demand comes spewing out her mouth before she can even realize she’s saying it: “Let me fly with you.”

Akako-chan quirks a brow.

“If...if you really are a witch, if you really do have magic,” because no matter how much weird sense this all makes, Aoko still can’t say she’s entirely convinced, “then I think taking me up on your flying broomstick would really be the best way to prove it.”

Akako-chan doesn’t answer immediately, and Aoko doesn’t get the chance to say anything else before they’re interrupted by the echoing sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs. “Akako-sama, dinner is ready,” the butler calls as he appears in the doorway, and Aoko’s stomach suddenly decides that it’s the perfect time to loudly gurgle with need.

“...Braised ribs first,” Akako-chan says, with a gentle giggle. “Then I’ll take you flying.”

Blushing, clutching at her stomach, Aoko agrees.

* * *

First and foremost, Aoko has to check the broom for any type of trick.

Akako-chan is clearly annoyed by the fuss, her brow furrowed and her foot tapping, but she doesn’t voice her complaint, simply allowing Aoko to take it in hand. Aoko’s not sure what exactly she’s even looking for—Invisible thread? Absurdly powerful magnets? Some sort of hidden engine?—but she doesn’t find anything anyway. Just a regular, unassuming, perfectly normal broomstick.

She hands it back to Akako-chan, who promptly slips it between her legs, leaps up, and then _stays there_ , her feet hovering just centimeters above the grass.

“Well?” Akako-chan chimes, after a good minute of Aoko just staring in awe. “Don’t just stand there. Hop on.”

Aoko doesn’t need to be told twice. There’s even a strange _eagerness_ fueling her as she throws her leg up and over, taking a seat right behind Akako-chan. Part of her expects the thin wood to snap beneath her weight, but no, it actually holds steady—and now she’s floating, holy shit she’s _floating_ in the air _,_ and then the ground is getting further and further away and they’re rapidly gaining in speed and Aoko instinctively clutches at Akako-chan’s middle just because she needs something to hold on to.

They rise above the trees, up to where Aoko can clearly see the nearly-set sun and darkening sky, then higher and higher until Akako-chan’s house is a dot beneath them and the faraway city skyline is just barely visible. This is all real—it can’t be explained by physics but the height and the wind and the view are all undeniably _real_ , and as her hair whips around her and she throws one arm up over her head, Aoko lets out an ecstatic, exhilarated yell.

“Hey, keep it down!” Akako-chan calls. “Do you _want_ people to look up and see us?”

“Oh!” Aoko immediately slaps her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking—”

But Akako-chan cuts her off with a loud, ringing laugh. “Kidding, I’m kidding! The broom is cloaked. Nobody will see us unless I want them to.”

With that, they suddenly launch down into a steep dip, and Aoko shrieks in surprise, her thighs tightening around the broom, her arm tightening around Akako-chan. Akako-chan cackles again, obviously finding a little too much enjoyment in freaking Aoko out, so when they level back out, Aoko smacks her in the shoulder and screams, “Warn me next time!”

But there isn’t a next time. The broom has slowed but it’s still descending, and within a few minutes, they’re touching back down onto the ground where they started. Aoko cautiously steps off the ride, but she’s somewhat unsteady on her own feet, still dizzy from thrill; she winds up bent over, her hands on her knees as she gasps for breath. When she looks up again, Akako-chan is standing in front of her, broom in hand and an incredibly smug grin on her face.

“Okay,” Aoko says, because now she definitely, truly believes. “Magic.”

* * *

When Aoko first arrived here, she was admittedly pretty bitter about the secrets and the lying, and she honestly thought she’d spend this stay avoiding Akako-chan more than not. Yet, here Aoko is only a day later, so _excited_ to talk with Akako-chan, because the revelation that _magic is real_ has left her overwhelmed with scientific curiosity and a burning desire to understand how it all even works.

“So like,” Aoko says, as she and Akako-chan descend back into the dungeon together, “does this mean you can do _anything_ you want?”

Akako-chan chuckles, lightly shaking her head. “Even magic has limits, you know. Not everything is possible, and what is possible may come at a cost you’re not willing to pay.”

“But you can move your house! You can get men to do your every bidding! You can _fly_!” Aoko’s eyes widen as she considers the endless possibilities. “Wait, okay—can you see the future?”

“I...can predict some things, yes. But it takes considerable effort, and even then, the details are not always clear.”

“Still. _You can see the future_.”

Akako-chan rolls her eyes, propping her broomstick up against the wall. “Oh dear. Are you going to be like this all night?”

“ _Yes_.”

“Fine, fine.” Akako-chan throws her arms up in something of a _come at me_ gesture. “Go ahead and ask what you want. But make it quick; I do actually need to sleep soon. Some of us still have school in the morning.”

There are so many things Aoko could ask about, so many endless questions she has on how magic works and what it can do—but at the mention of school, Aoko remembers _why_ she’s not going tomorrow, and that sobers her up considerably. Suddenly, there’s only one thing she wants to know. The same one thing she’s been wondering to herself ever since that very moment her whole world went to hell.

“...Do you know why Kaito is doing what he’s doing?”

Akako-chan freezes up, then nervously bites at her lip. “Like I said before, it’s really not my place to speak on that.”

“But you _do_ know,” Aoko mutters, a little heated, a little accusing. “You’re clairvoyant, of course you would.”

“ _I’m_ not clairvoyant. The spirits I summon are.” Akako-chan pointedly flips her hair back. “So no, it doesn’t work like that. Sure, I’ve become aware of some of his circumstances through divination, but I can’t _read minds_. Believe me, I have _no_ idea just what goes on in that head of his.” She scowls before viciously turning on her heel, by this point ranting to herself more than to Aoko. “I mean, he’s infuriating! He’s reckless, and ridiculous, and he acts with no sense of self-preservation! He defies all logic and he never _listens_ to anyone, even when they’re just trying to help!”

There’s something about that tone, that anger towards Kaito on behalf of his own well-being, that reminds Aoko of herself. Aoko knows full well how Kaito can be annoying, aggravating, absolutely _incorrigible_ sometimes _,_ but part of why he’s always able to get under her skin so bad is simply _because_ she cares for him so much.

Because she _loves_ him so much.

“...Akako-chan,” Aoko murmurs, almost awestruck at the realization, “you _really_ like Kaito.”

“No, I don’t!” Akako-chan hisses, whirling back on Aoko. “He’s just the only man in the world who my powers don’t work on. All I want is to make him bow before me like all the others! That’s _it_!”

Somehow, Aoko doesn’t quite believe her. But now Akako-chan is pouting and crossing her arms, in full indication that she is _done_ talking about this, so Aoko instead decides to breach a different topic.

“So you keep saying _men_ , specifically.” This has been niggling at Aoko for a while, actually. “Does that mean you can’t control women at all?”

“No, of course not. Women hate me, they always have.”

Aoko glances the other girl over, mulls over how, even with such clear irritation in her face, Akako-chan appears no less stunningly gorgeous than usual. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Akako-chan furrows her brow as she meets Aoko’s gaze. “Why?”

Aoko silently reflects on everything she’s noticed about Akako-chan since she transferred. Her confidence, her charm, her beauty. Her ruby eyes, her silky hair, her hypnotizing laughter. The adorable way she winks, the shameless way she flirts, the surprisingly gentle way she would reciprocate during those few times Aoko initiated a hug.

The way Akako-chan in general just has a tendency to make Aoko’s heart _race_.

“...No reason,” Aoko says, and puts all she can into feigning an indifferent shrug.

Not the most painful lie she’s told today, but a lie nonetheless.

* * *

Akako-chan heads off to sleep just before midnight, which leaves Aoko, who woke up less than six hours ago and is very distinctly not tired, to lie on her guest room bed and roll around in _agony_.

Okay, so. She likes Akako-chan. Admittedly, that’s not exactly news; Aoko has had something of a crush on Akako-chan ever since the day she first laid eyes on the beautiful new transfer student. Back then, it was nothing serious—a mere superficial attraction—and though Aoko was delighted when she and Akako-chan became friends, her romantic notions at the time were still mostly centered around Kaito.

But after today? After seeing Akako-chan be vulnerable, and learning about her magical secrets, and going up with her on a literally heart-stopping broom flight?

Oh dear. How very quickly this crush has gotten _bad_.

Really, this timing is the actual _worst_. Aoko is already right in the middle of a crisis; she doesn’t need a fresh pile-up of newly complicated feelings compounding on her already fraught emotional state. So she tries not to think about her crush on Akako-chan, but that just ends up with her thinking instead about Kid and Kaito and _why would h_ _e_ _do this_ , and the fact that she still doesn’t have an answer to that question causes her to stare at the [BAKAITO] contact on her phone for far too long, debating whether or not she should just take the dive and demand an explanation.

But...no. No, she _can’t_. Even the mere thought of hearing Kaito’s voice over a speaker is still too much for her to take, so instead, Aoko ends up opening her internet browser and searching for videos of cats or babies or just anything that will keep her distracted. She must nod off at some point, because she wakes up around one in the afternoon to find her phone on the mattress beside her, now at very low battery after having been on all through the night.

Aoko plugs in the charge cable, then goes right back to mindlessly watching videos until hours later, when Akako-chan knocks at her door.

“Hey, I’ve got something for you.” Akako-chan is wearing her school uniform when she enters, and she reaches into the bag slung over her shoulder to pull out a bundle of papers. “Here. It’s all the homework you’ve missed. Kuroba-kun gathered it all from the teachers.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Aoko takes the pile in hand, then purses her lips. She almost doesn’t want to ask, but... “H-how is Kaito, anyway?”

“Acting the fool, as usual. Though, he actually seemed somewhat _scared_ of Momoi-san today.” Akako-chan seems perplexed but amused by that, and Aoko can’t help the way her own lips quirk up knowingly. “He was also pretty snippy when he handed me the papers, but that was probably just the jealousy talking.”

Aoko cocks her head. “Jealousy?”

“That you’re staying with me.”

“Why would he be jealous of that?”

Akako-chan blinks, then shoots Aoko a thoroughly deadpan stare. “Are you serious.”

Aoko just blinks confusedly back.

“I can’t believe either of you,” Akako-chan sighs. “Kuroba-kun is in love with you. You _know_ that, right?”

... _Does_ she?

Maybe a part of Aoko had suspected, had _h_ _oped_ , simply because she’d longed for her own feelings to be returned. But in truth, she had never been able to get herself to entertain the idea that Kaito might actually want her in that way. Partly because she just hadn’t wanted to risk losing her best friend over a crush, and partly because Kaito had always seemed too distracted and distant—and, in hindsight, _busy being a phantom thief_ —to even give romance a second thought.

And now...

“How could he be in love with me,” Aoko whispers, “and still choose to be Kaitou Kid?”

Akako-chan doesn’t answer. Aoko wasn’t really expecting her to.

So they leave that hanging and simply change the subject, Aoko asking Akako-chan to help her catch up with all the schoolwork. Akako-chan obliges, yanking out her textbooks and pencils before sitting next to Aoko on the bed—and it’s so oddly _assuring_ just to have Akako-chan here by her side. Never before have physics problems left Aoko feeling so bubbly, and later, when they have dinner, Aoko spends an embarrassing amount of time doing nothing but watch Akako-chan eat from across the table.

Today, Akako-chan’s mere presence brings Aoko such comfort and warmth. But then they part ways for bed, and Aoko is left aching and cold.

Once again, it’s late at night and she’s all alone, and she quickly spirals down unchecked into the abyss of her own dark thoughts. Once again, she catches herself glaring at Kaito’s contact page on her phone, until she’s curled up and trembling and _crying_ in the face of that call button. Only then does Aoko abruptly realize what this is—it’s _fear_ , she’s actually become _a_ _fraid_ of Kaito, because what if...

What if, after she does hear Kaito’s reason, it all just hurts even more? What if he didn’t even really have a reason in the first place; he just cared more about the game than he did about her feelings?

...In the end, Aoko simply isn’t brave enough to face that possibility.

* * *

Aoko wakes up the next morning with an idea.

It’s a terrible idea that comes at a terrible time. It’s reckless and moving too fast and most likely just a desperate bid to find some purchase, some footing, some _stability_ in her life after the knowledge of Kid’s identity so viciously swept her out to sea. But after these past few days, Aoko has realized that being with Akako-chan just feels _so_ _good_ , it’s the only source of good she’s really had throughout this entire waking nightmare, and even if she’s still not brave enough to confront Kaito, maybe...

Maybe she can try to be brave in other ways.

So when Akako-chan comes up to the guest room that afternoon to deliver the day’s homework, Aoko steels herself and proclaims, “Akako-chan, I need to tell you something.”

Aoko had thought this out in advance, had practiced some lines and even formulated something of a speech while she waited for Akako-chan to come home from school. But now, with Akako-chan taking a seat beside her on the bed and staring at her patiently, Aoko’s mind suddenly goes blank. She doesn’t remember what she was going to say but she has to say something, and after a minute of hopeless fumbling, she winds up just spitting out: “I’m in love with you!”

Not the most eloquent declaration, but it should get the point across. Akako-chan doesn’t seem to understand, though, merely furrowing her brow and shaking her head. “That’s impossible. I told you, my spell doesn’t work on women.”

“It’s not your spell.” Aoko _did_ consider it, but after a good deal of contemplation, she’s certain now that her feelings don’t have anything to do with magic. “I’m not the same as all those boys; I’m not just going to do whatever you tell me to without question. I can say no, I can argue, I can get mad—and honestly, yeah, I actually am still a little bit mad at you about the whole lying thing.” She exhales slowly, clasping her hands together. “But I _like_ you. I like looking at you and talking with you and touching you and just _being_ with you. No magic necessary, I just _do_.”

Realization has slowly been dawning on Akako-chan’s face with each word, and once Aoko’s done speaking, Akako-chan simply looks _lost_. More lost than Aoko has ever seen her.

“I...you...” Akako-chan stammers, which is incredible in and of itself. “I-if this is some sort of twisted way for you to get back at Kuroba-kun—”

“No! Forget Kaito!” Aoko curls her hands into fists that slam down onto the mattress. “For once, this isn’t about him, it’s about _me_!” But Akako-chan’s expression is no less flabbergasted, so Aoko takes a deep breath to calm herself. “Really, it’s not that, Akako-chan. You can just give me your answer. You can go ahead and tell me no.”

Of course Aoko has prepared herself for rejection; it’s not like she ever _actually_ expected her feelings to be returned. She just wanted to confess for her own sake, so that she could get it off her chest, so that she could properly resolve at least _some_ of her current emotional mess. But now Akako-chan is staring back at her with a virtual storm raging in her eyes, and when next she speaks, Aoko doesn’t quite believe her ears.

“I don’t want to _,_ ” Akako-chan finally says, and the evident confusion on her face perfectly matches Aoko’s own. “This doesn’t make any sense. I’ve been confessed to by so many boys over the years, casually rejected every single one without a second thought. But with you, like this, right now, I...I don’t want to say no.”

...Oh.

Oh, this is _not_ going how Aoko thought it would.

“Girls don’t like me,” Akako-chan continues. “Girls have _never_ liked me. Every girl I’ve ever met has either hated me or wanted to use me somehow, but you? You were the only one who actually wanted to be my friend. Who actually tried to understand me. You were kind and genuine and you wormed your way into my space and my time and I...I’ve told you things about myself that I’ve never told _anyone_.”

Akako-chan inches forward, her body beginning to lean in, and suddenly Aoko’s head is spinning because oh, _holy shit_ , she really didn’t see this coming at all. But she finds herself mirroring Akako-chan’s movements, getting so close that their foreheads touch, the proximity allowing Aoko to gaze up into shimmering, captivating red eyes.

“I don’t understand it,” Akako-chan murmurs, the warmth of her breath brushing over Aoko’s lips, “but I _can’t_ tell you no.”

And the moment those words register, Aoko _moves_.

Of all the fantasies Aoko has had about her first kiss, none of them were anything like this. Admittedly, most of those fantasies had involved Kaito, and she’d be lying if she said Hakuba-kun hadn’t crossed her mind as well, and of course she’d dreamt about Akako-chan too—but the Akako-chan of her imagination was always so confident, so assured, so ready to take charge. Instead, the Akako-chan of right now seems almost _shy_ , her lips gentle and questioning and uncertain, and it suddenly strikes Aoko that, despite all the boys at her beck and call, Akako-chan has probably never deigned to go this far with any of them.

That realization spurs Aoko on, her heart filling with pride at the fact that of all people, Akako-chan has chosen _her_. Emboldened, Aoko reaches up, her fingers threading through sleek red hair as she yanks Akako-chan ever deeper into the kiss. Her mouth shifts so that she’s sucking lightly at Akako-chan’s bottom lip, and that earns Aoko a surprised yelp followed by a soft, utterly adorable whimper that sends jolts rippling all down her spine.

When at last, Aoko pulls back for breath, Akako-chan is flushed and panting and even more beautiful than before.

“Hey,” Aoko mumbles. “Was that okay?”

“ _Definitely_ okay,” Akako-chan answers, an eager thrum to her voice and an insistent sheen to her eyes.

That’s all the permission Aoko needs to dive in and kiss her again.

* * *

Four days later, Aoko decides to return to school. The whole walk there, she and Akako-chan hold hands, only letting go of each other right as they enter class 2-B. Akako-chan shoots her a nod of support, and Aoko steels herself as she marches right up to the source of all this recent turmoil.

“Kaito,” Aoko says, making sure to keep her gaze steady as she meets wide cobalt blue eyes. “Meet me after school. We need to talk.”


End file.
